Peary now took the lead with a sledge drawn by twelve dogs, and set the course by means of a boat-compass lashed on the top of the load. Henson followed next with a sledge and trailer drawn by sixteen dogs; and Lee brought up the rear with a long sledge and trailer drawn by fourteen dogs.
When near the Petermann Fiord Basin, a storm delayed them forty-eight hours. At this camp two dogs were fed to the others. During the next week the long sledge was abandoned, and the loads rearranged.
An average elevation of 7670 feet had now been attained, and breathing was much more rapid on increased exertion. Henson and Lee frequently bled at the nose. The maximum elevation was found to be 7865 feet.
At the 400th mile one of the runners of Henson’s sledge broke, and the greater portion of a day was spent in repairing the sledge with a runner from one of the trailers. This new runner, however, only did duty for 12 miles, when it broke beyond repair. The sledge was now converted into a three-runner one. On this day the last of the walrus-meat was fed to the seventeen remaining dogs. It was now a case of dog eat dog, and in a few days only eleven were left.
Peary saw that the land must be reached with all speed. He therefore dismantled the three-runner sledge and cached everything except a week’s supplies. They were now on the downward grade, and on the second day they sighted land.
They were now over 500 miles from the Lodge in a direct line, and three of the eleven dogs were thoroughly exhausted. Peary decided to leave Lee here with the dogs, and push on with Henson in search of musk-oxen.
Peary and Henson started out from an elevation of 4800 feet above sea-level. Four miles from the tent many huge crevasses were passed. Peary recognised the group as one he had seen in 1892. Some miles beyond these large crevasses a great number of small ones were met, into which both Peary and Henson frequently fell, but were always able to save themselves.
At the junction of the ice-cap with the land was a vertical wall of ice impracticable of descent. Finally a glacier was found over which they had to pick their way among crevasses.
The land consisted of bare jagged rocks which cut their boots and bruised their feet. Leaving the sledge behind, they wandered about the greater part of a day in a drizzling snowstorm in search of a practicable route, but failed to find one, or to see any game. Next day they returned to the tent on the ice-cap.
A serious condition of affairs now stared them in the face, but after very little discussion all agreed to stake everything on finding musk-oxen. They therefore started back for the cache, and when it was reached Peary and Henson were quite used up.